


Sleeping Without Covers

by ATouchOfCommonSense



Series: Remy Wants A Nap [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Cuddle Pile, Especially Remy and Patton, Everyone Needs A Hug, Literal Sleeping Together, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Good Friend, Sleep Deprivation, Sleep | Remy Sanders-centric, Sleepovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:48:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23550343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATouchOfCommonSense/pseuds/ATouchOfCommonSense
Summary: Remy has not gotten a good night's sleep in ages and, unbeknownst to them, its the sides fault. Too bad Remy doesn't plan on telling anyone about his problem.-In which the sides are worried about Thomas, and Remy in suffering from sleep deprivation.This is a continuation of "Sleeping Under Covers" but it can be read alone too!
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Thomas Sanders & The Sides
Series: Remy Wants A Nap [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693150
Comments: 16
Kudos: 118





	Sleeping Without Covers

**Author's Note:**

> A special thanks to Oillamps and Cinquefoile for suggesting I do a follow up fic!

Thomas wasn't sleeping well. It didn't matter when he got to bed or how long he slept, he didn't feel rested at all. The sides were getting concerned.

-

Thomas was replying to a VIE (Very Important Email) at the breakfast table. Every few sentences, he would shove a spoonful of cereal into his mouth at which point Thomas would lose all semblance of his current thought process and would have to read the email over again. Roman, who was sick of wasting precious morning time rereading a stupid email, was about ready to put the VIE off until Thomas could focus but Logan was having none of it.

“Mornings are the optimal time for Thomas to complete tasks,” Logan argues. “He functions at the highest level when he first wakes up. Putting the email off until later will ensure a rushed and unplanned response.”

Roman stomped around Logan and sat down in the chair closest to him. “Well, tell that to Thomas! He can hardly string two sentences together, let alone a well thought-out email.”

Logan, arching an eyebrow at Roman's sprawl over the chair, said, “And who's fault is that?”

Roman looked down at his fingernails, faking ignorance. “Dunno, teach. Who's in charge of making sure Thomas is functioning optimally?”

“Thomas has been on a fine schedule, thank you very much. He was only on his phone for half an hour before bed last night; he should be well rested and ready for the day,” Logan countered. “Besides, I'm not in charge of his ability to _create things_.”

“Excuse you, but I am working just fine! It is not my fault Thomas isn't listening to my illustrious advice!”

While the two sides bickered, Thomas put down his phone and finished his breakfast. He wasn't particularly hungry but he was mindlessly going through his routine nonetheless. He didn't know what was wrong. He felt like he hadn't slept at all last night, despite not doing anything different before sleeping last night. Maybe he was getting sick?

-

Logan was frustrated, Roman was cranky, Virgil was working double time, and Patton was really confused.

Being Thomas’ heart, the other sides didn’t often seem it necessary to tell him what was going on. His job didn’t really revolve around the facts so his friends often assumed he didn’t need to know them. 

Which was stupid, of course. If Thomas was upset, Patton had every right to know what was going on. How was he supposed to address the problem if he didn’t even know what was to blame?

He didn’t hold it against the others that they hadn’t filled him in yet. They would. When Thomas got upset enough and Patton couldn’t provide any helpful insight, someone would think it was about time to tell him something of importance. 

All Patton could do now was subtly figure stuff out on his own.

-

“Hiya Logan!”

“Patton. While I understand the need to socialize as a required part of your facet, I am extremely busy and would request you fulfill that need elsewhere.”

Patton sighed and placed a hand on the intelligent side’s shoulder. “And while I understand you are doing something very important right now, I have to interrupt because it's time to eat.”

Logan scowled at his page and crossed out the word he had just written with such ferocity Patton thought the page might rip.

“Not hungry.”

“Too bad,” Patton chirped as he snatched the endangered paper away from Logan. It looked like a new daily schedule. What was wrong with the old one? “You know Thomas gets cranky when we don’t eat. You don’t want to hurt Thomas’ efficiency, right?”

Logan, now looking much less murderous now that he wasn’t focused on the daily schedule, stood up and nodded to Patton. 

“Of course.”

Patton grinned, placing the paper back on the desk.

-

“So, how is my favorite Thomas doing?”

Thomas looked up, surprised to see Patton sitting in the chair opposite, legs swinging.

“Pat, I am the only Thomas you know.”

“Well, then that makes you pretty singular, huh.”

Thomas smiled, but it was quick to melt away. “Things, ah, aren’t going too great, I guess.”

“You guess? You want to tell me a little about that?”

Thomas scrubbed at his eyes and looked down at the laptop currently balanced on his lap. “I don’t know. I’m just feeling a bit out of it, I suppose. Sorry to push you away so soon, but I really have to finish this rough draft by Friday and I'm worried at this rate I’ll never get it done.”

Patton nodded understandingly and popped back into the Mindscape. He didn’t really have much to go on, yet. He was hoping to catch Thomas in a chatty mood, but that was alright. He could ask again tomorrow.

-

“Patton, we fear there is something wrong with Thomas.”

Well, that was fast. Patton expected to spend days working out what was bothering Thomas. He had so far collected that it had something to do with Thomas not thinking quite as clearly as he ought and that it was hurting the work, Logan and Roman were much more furious with each other than normal, and Anxiety had been stomping around the Mindscape all day as if he was stomping the ants that killed his father.

To put it simply, everyone was on edge.

“Yeah, I kinda gathered that, Kiddo.”

“Yeah,” Anxiety said. “We assumed you would. The problem is, we don’t really know what’s wrong.”

Oh. That certainly explains the lack of communication. “Did this start just today? Or has Thomas been out of sorts for a while now and it’s just now starting to build up?”

Roman sat back in his chair and crossed his legs, something he only did when he was uncomfortable and trying not to look it. 

“I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve been trying to bounce new ideas for a video off Thomas for days and he hasn’t appreciated any of them. Not one! I was beginning to think I was doing something wrong, which is just ridiculous-”

“What Roman is trying to say,” Logan inserted, successfully cutting off Roman’s ramblings, “Is that Thomas has been quite out of sorts as of late and today has been the final straw. He couldn’t focus a measly email for ten minutes! There is something wrong with Thomas and we need to fix it, or he and his colleagues will suffer for it.”

Patton nodded with a slight downturn to his lips, trying to wrap his head around something being wrong with Thomas “for a while” and Patton not knowing it. To be fair, it didn’t seem like anyone really noticed something wrong worth noting.

“Well, I can tell you one thing, it doesn’t have to do with his emotions. I would have known it straight away if Thomas was feeling unsettled.”

“Well, then I’m out of ideas!” Roman cried “It’s not my fault Thomas can hardly get out of bed in the mornings!”

Patton felt a pang of panic in his chest. He would know if Thomas was depressed, right?

Anxiety shook his head at Patton’s worried face. “He’s not depressed. We would all know it, in one way or another.”

“If you do not feel anything out of the ordinary, then most certainly not, Patton.” Logan added.

“Alright.” Patton said, relieved. “What’s the plan, then?”

“I spoke to Thomas earlier today to analyze his state. He admitted to feeling increasingly tired over the last few days to the point of incapacitation. He believes he may be getting sick, but I do not agree.”

Patton knew where this was going, but it seemed like the others were reluctant to say. “You want us to talk to Remy?”

Roman grinned sheepishly at him. “We want you to take us to his room.”

-

It turned out, Patton was the only person who knew where Remy’s room was. That wasn’t such a shock, considering it’s placement in the Mindscape, but it was rather sad the other sides hadn’t thought to seek him out before. He knew Remy came around every so often to send them off to bed but Remy isn't just someone to force you to sleep at three am. 

Patton had been to his room many times before. The first night after the breakup, Patton lay in bed for all of ten minutes before knowing he wasn’t going to get to sleep without some help. After his first visit -back when they were just children- Remy said he was welcome anytime. Patton took the invitation that night, padding down the hall for quite a while before making it to Remy’s unoccupied room. 

Instead of leaving, Patton sat on one of the comfy bean bag chairs alone and cried. He was in such a bad place, everybody really was, and he just felt so, so alone at the time. Remy showed up a few minutes later with two cups of the, the physic, and hugged him. It was the most comfort anybody had offered him since he had left and Patton was unendingly grateful.

Turning up unannounced to Remy’s room was not what bothered him about the sides’ current excursion. It was the fact that Patton felt as if he was part of a fleet of men about to interrogate a witness. Whatever was causing the issue, Patton was sure Remy didn’t mean to hurt Thomas. If Remy was even at the crux of the issue. 

Well, it was too late now. They were at Remy’s room and there was no turning back now.

-

Remy felt awful. There was no other word to better describe the extreme tiredness he was feeling. The sides themselves were not sleeping too poorly, but over the past few weeks they have been shifting their sleep schedules away from each other in such a way that Remy wasn’t sure he got more than three hours last night. He was dead on his feet and he just knew coffee was not going to cut it today.

He had a quadruple shot of espresso in his laté anyway.

Remy was currently lying in bed, listening to music and trying to calm down. Remy knew better than anyone that espresso was a bad solution to extreme sleep deprivation. It made him jittery and keyed up, but his body refused to get up and move because there just wasn't any energy left in the reserve. He couldn’t do anything but lie here and hope the sides would go to sleep at a reasonable time without him. 

-

In the end, it was Roman who knocked on the door. None of them would admit it later, but the sides did spend a good long while looking from the door to each other as if to say, ‘Are _you_ gonna do it?’ until Roman threw up his hands and knocked.

“Remy? It’s Roman. And, uh, the rest of us, actually. Can we come in?”

A grown was heard from the other side of the door. “Gurl, now is not the time.” 

Logan, having successfully avoided being the first to speak, had no issues communicating to Remy that it indeed was the time.

“Fine, whatever. This better be uber important,” Remy groaned and opened the door.

Patton was not a rude person. In fact, just about everything he did was the exact opposite of rude. But sometimes not-rude people do rude things on accident. 

Which is why he along with Roman, Virgil, and Patton quite theatrically gasped at Remy’s appearance. He was unusually pale and, without his sunglasses, his eyes looked as if he had taken a leaf out of Virgil’s book for makeup advice. Except eyeshadow was not the offender smudged under Remy’s eyes.

“Gurl, rude. If I opened this door to be told to glow up, I am going to flip.” Remy sighed, reaching for his trusted sunglasses.

“No, no, that’s not what we meant. Oh gosh, sorry! It’s just…” Patton floundered.

“You look a bit dead on your feet, Rem,” Virgil explained helpfully.

Remy rolled his eyes and walked back inside his room, successfully adorned with his sunglasses. “Whatever, Gurl. It’s not like you’re the picture of beauty in the morning either.”

“Ah, Remy?” Patton gave a pointed look to the clock sitting on the bedside table. The black little clock proudly displayed 4:43pm.

“Fine. So maybe it's not morning. It doesn’t matter. What are all you doing here, anyway? I didn’t think you guys…” Remy gave a sweeping glance over Virgil, Logan, and Roman, “Even knew where my room was.”

“Funny story-” Roman began, but Logan neatly cut him off.

“We are not here to converse upon our past visits to your room, or lack thereof. We are here to discuss Thomas.”

“But first,” Virgil added. “You are going to sit down. You look about ready to fall over.”

Remy rolled his eyes, but sat on his bed all the same. He did, in fact, look about ready to drop. Even as he sat, he swayed to the side and had to put a hand down to stabilize himself.

Patton sat next to him and put a comforting arm around his shoulder. “You feeling alright, Kiddo? You don’t look so good.”

Remy recovered and crossed his arms petulantly but didn’t push Patton away. “I’m fine.” In an effort to redirect the conversation, Remy pressed “What’s wrong with Thomas?”

“We have reason to believe you may be at the crux of an issue regarding Thomas. Do you have anything you wish to shave with us before we proceed?”

Remy offered up an easy smile. “Nothing of importance, Teach.”

“Thomas, as you should have noticed, has been experiencing the effects of sleep deprivation. He is losing his ability to focus on important tasks, he is having trouble with memory recall, and he is feeling increasingly tired despite getting a full eight hours of sleep each and every night. Do you still believe you have ‘nothing of importance’ to share?”

Logan’s tirade had effectively wiped off the grin off of Remy’s face. Even still, he replied in a quiet tone, “I don’t know why you blame me. Thomas is still sleeping on schedule, you said so yourself.”

“He may be sleeping, but he is not feeling the effects. That is most definitely your area!”

“Hey,” Patton chastised. “I know we’re all worried about Thomas but pointing fingers isn’t going to get us anywhere. Let's just stick to the facts, all right?”

“The facts are,” Roman huffed. “Thomas isn’t sleeping well and Remy is in charge of making Thomas sleep! How are we supposed to draw any other conclusions!”

“Well, Thomas could just be getting sick or something! You can’ just assume everything is Remy’s fault!”

“Oh, and you’re just going to sit there on your high horse and claim you didn’t think the exact same thing?Why do you think you brought us here in the first place? Just for funsies?!”

At that, Remy stood up and pointed accusingly at Roman. “Did you ever consider that it was _your_ fault?!”

Roman gasped, “How dare y-”

“Or yours-” Remy said, rounding on Logan. 

“Or _yours_ -” Virgil, this time.

“Or even yours, though I do hate to say it.” Remy looked a little guilty accusing Patton of doing any wrong, though he was unknowingly the harshest offender. “You are all so high and mighty, thinking you can go to sleep whenever you want but you never stopped to think of how that might affect Thomas!”

“What do you mean, Remy?” Patton looked as if he might cry. He couldn’t bear the thought of hurting Thomas, even if it wasn’t on purpose.

Remy tipped his head back and gave a heavy sigh. “I promised you guys I wouldn’t tell you this, you know. It never used to affect Thomas, I don’t know why it is now.”

“Don’t you get all cryptic with us now,” Virgil growled. “What’s going on with Thomas?”

“Fine! Fine. Whatever. You all think you can go to sleep whenever because as long as you sleep enough you feel well rested, right? Well, I sort of… can’t. Do that.”

“What, feel well rested?”

“No!” Remy moaned, “Sleep whenever I want to! You can prance off to bed at seven pm or seven am and it doesn’t really matter but I can't just do that! I have to wait until you are all tucked away in your beads, dreaming of sugarplums or some such nonsense, before I can even think of sleeping. And I sort of had you synchronized there for a while but you all started staying up later or going to bed earlier or waking up an ungodly hour and there wasn’t anything I could do! You wouldn’t listen to me, and now Thomas is suffering.”

Everyone just stared at Remy for a good, long time. Finally, Patton spoke.

“And is that why you’re so tired, too?”

“What? No, I mean, it doesn’t matter. I can deal with it. It’s Thomas who is suffering here!”

“Thomas isn’t doing too hot right now, to be sure,” Patton allowed. “But I think you might be the one suffering the most, here.”

“Yeah,” Virgil commented. “And to think I thought you were being irritated for no good reason.”

“Excuse you,” Remy weakly protested. “I am always this bitchy.”

“Sure you are, hun,” Roman said, steering Remy back into his bed. With a wave of his hand, he doubled the size and shoved Remy down on to it. “Now sleep.”

Remy flipped around so he was lying on his stomach and pouted. “Were you listening to a word I said? I can’t!”

“Of course you can!” Patton laughed. “You just need a little help, just like us. Don’t think we’ve forgotten all about you putting us to bed each night.”

With that, Patton flopped down onto the bed next to Remy. Roman followed close behind.

Virgil didn’t even feign annoyance as he walked over to the bed and lay down. “Who could say no to lazing around?”

“Come on, Specs. If you know what’s good for Thomas you’ll join the cuddle pile,” Roman quipped from somewhere under the blankety mass he had crawled under.

Logan was above cuddle piles. He did not participate in things just because they were “fun” or “relaxing”. Logan was someone to be taken seriously. Necktie.

But between the puppy dog eyes and helping Thomas recover from a situation he had a hand in causing, Logan was positive he did not have a choice in the matter. With the striking awareness that his dignity was running out the door, Logan slowly sat on the bed and swung his legs over. 

Instantly, Patton tackled him down into a sleeping position. “Remember, Lo. You actually have to sleep.”

Logan was pretty sure it was going to take something stronger than words to encourage him to sleep in this setting, but he was sorely mistaken. Remy’s room tended to make people drowsy even in the most normal of circumstances. Now, Remy smirked at the way his friends were dropping like flies. It didn’t take more than two minutes for all of the sides to relax fully into the comfortable mattress.

All four of the lights were fast asleep. In Remy’s room. Remy did his best to balk at the strange situation he found himself in, but it didn’t last. Remy’s eyes were shutting of their own accord and before he knew he was sleeping just as soundly as the other sides.

-

Thomas didn’t plan on falling asleep in the middle of a phone call with one of his friends, but, as it turned out, sleeping was exactly what his body demanded he do. It felt like his whole body was slowly becoming a part of the couch behind him and his eyes began to sting with the strain of keeping them open. He quickly bid his friend goodbye and leaned back, sleep overtaking him before he had a chance to ask himself what was happening.

Thomas slept soundly until the next morning and, when all was said and done, he felt better than he had in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any suggestions or comments about my writing, feel free to email me at atouchofcommonsense@gmail.com!!! I take prompts that way too ;))


End file.
